Suppose I asked you to
list the things that you needed to be happy. You would
probably say: money, spouse, children, house, clothes,
car, TV, stereo, VCR, boat, etc. Although the order may
differ, people admit to needing a list of things to be
happy.

Now, suppose I asked you
to select the one thing that is essential to your
happiness without which happiness would be impossible.
What would it be? Money? After all, can't you buy
everything with money? Ask the millionaire with a
toothache.

Money can't buy health. It
is by far your most valuable possession. Without it you
cannot enjoy any of the things on your list. Did health
appear on your list?

The interesting thing is
that if you're like most people, you didn't include
health on your list. Why? Because people take their
health for granted. You don't even think about it until
you have problems. As long as it doesn't hurt, why
bother? Why go looking for trouble? The fact is, that
many people find themselves in trouble, quite
unexpectedly. Do you think people with dentures intended
to have problems with their teeth? Of course not. They
often consider themselves as victims of heredity or
circumstance, even though the problem is totally
preventable. The secret is learning to prevent problems.

Any intelligent person, if
given a clear choice between health and disease, would
choose health. Yet, many people see health professionals
only when they have problems. In dentistry, for example,
there was a time when the only treatment was to pull the
offending tooth without the benefit of anaesthetic. Even
though dentistry has become almost totally painless, many
people still use their fear of pain as an excuse to avoid
all dental services, (even the preventive ones). They may
even use the cost of dental services as an excuse, as if
they value a new stereo or VCR more than a healthy smile.
In fact, people spend more on lottery tickets and hair
cuts, than they do on oral health care. They must think
that they can beat the cost of dental care by simply
staying away from the dental office. In the end, all they
learn is the high cost of neglect.
What would you tell people who say that they don't change
the oil in their car to save money? Is it fair for them
to blame the mechanic for the high costs of repairs when
the engine seizes. Is it fair to wait until you have a
painful toothache and then blame the dentist when you get
the bill for extensive repairs? How much value do you
place on your teeth? Do you think you could enjoy a full
course meal without them? Ask a person with dentures if
they think that they can chew as well as they could with
healthy natural teeth, (a handful of raw almonds may help
in making your decision).

If preventive information
and services are available to help you keep your teeth
for a lifetime and avoid more than $7,500 worth of
recurrent repairs and dentures, why wouldn't you make a
point of finding out about them by going for a
consultation or check-up? Its not just a matter of how
much its going to cost to fix things. Its a matter of
learning how to get what you've got healthy before you
invest in repairs. If you can learn how to stop the
progress of the disease that is damaging your teeth and
gums in the first place, then when the repairs are done,
then tend to stay done.

Treating effects by
repairing, without treating causes by preventing, can be
a very expensive lesson in chasing without catching.
Dentistry has much more to offer today than drilling,
filling, and pulling. It can also provide you with an
accurate diagnosis of the level of your oral health, the
latest preventive techniques, and the information you
need to get the best value from all dental services over
a lifetime. The cost of prevention and regular care is
always far less than the cost of ignorance and neglect.
Daily brushing & flossing and regular check-ups may
at first seem to be a hassle, but they are nowhere near
the hassle of toothaches, bad breath, bleeding gums,
periodontal abscesses, surgery, bridge-work, and
dentures.

For your sake, don't wait
until it hurts. Ask your dentist or hygienist about their
preventive services. If you haven't already learned the
benefits of brushing & flossing and regular
check-ups, you really should look into it. Ask about
bacterial plaque and how to control it. Ask about
fluorides and sealants. Ask about the diet patterns that
support oral health. Remember, if you can get your mouth
healthy, the rest of the body tends to follow suit. When
one part of the body gets healthy, the whole body
benefits. Why not learn how to increase your health as
you get older instead of slowly letting it get worse?

I guarantee, you'll never
regret learning how to improve your dental health.
Besides, nobody will take as good care of your teeth as
you will, and there is little any dentist or hygienist
can do that will make up for what you won't do. If you
can learn to recognize the signs on the road to health,
and the signs on the road to disease, you can at least
see where you're headed. With professional help, you can
learn to recognize your problem areas while they are
still reversible. You can even learn how to put distance
between yourself and the possibility of dental disease.

Please take a good look at
your list of priorities in life. If you're looking for
wealth, invest in your health, while you still have it.
You may also be surprised to find, that when you've got
good health, all you really need is a sunny day, a smile
from a loved one, and it all makes sense. When you're
healthy, life is not a cry, its a song.

The first "Your Teeth
For a Lifetime" article appeared in Volume 53, No.
2, of the O.D.A. Journal, in February 1976. The
"Standardized Oral Hygiene Preventive Dental
Education Kit" has since been tested on more than
2,500 private patients. It is a very effective system and
can yield impressive results even when pitted against
periodontal disease in its irreversible stages.

INTRODUCTION

Since 1976, with the
support of members of the Thunder Bay Dental Association,
I limited my practice to teaching primary prevention and
nutrition. Just as a dentist who limits his dental
practice to crown and bridge can become exceedingly
proficient in that discipline, by limiting my practice to
primary prevention I hoped to do the same. As I begin my
fourteenth year of this preventive discipline, it is my
privilege to share some of the insights gained in this
endeavour.

THE
TWO BRUSH AND FLOSS SYSTEM

This system maximizes
cleaning & gum massage, and minimizes abrasion and
periodontal damage. Although a single multi-tufted brush
can achieve similar results, there are definite
advantages in using specialized brushes for both sulcus
brushing and gum massage & general cleaning.

STEP 1: Sulcus
Brushing
Most patients don't know the meaning of the word sulcus,
and a soft 2-row sulcus brush is an ideal tool for
focusing their attention on this area. (It is new and
logical.)

Using a pencil or
finger-tip grip, the brush is gently vibrated at a 45o
angle into the sulcus then out. It is used once a day,
without toothpaste to minimize abrasion, in an open-ended
time situation (eg. while relaxing, watching TV or
listening to the stereo etc.).

It helps to do three
things:

It disturbs PLAQUE
accumulation within the the sulcus (2.5 to 3mm).

It carries saliva
by capillary action into the sulcus which helps
buffer or neutralize the acids and enzymes
produced by bacteria.

It stretches or
exercises the circular periodontal fibers in the
gingival cuff and causes them to tighten up. The
fine bristles (0.15 / 0.18mm dia.) easily enter
the crevice with a minimum of inter-bristle
interference. (Splayed bristles indicate the use
of excess pressure.)

STEP 2: Flossing
"Its not a question of whether you like to floss or
not, its a question of understanding the necessity of
flossing."
Floss cleans the contact point. It also cleans the 35% of
the sulcus where most perio-dontal disease starts because
it cannot be reached by a brush.

Floss Diagnostics:

Odour: A fetid smell (often with a metallic taste), on
the floss can be an indication of the anaerobic bacterial
activity that is one of the early symptoms of periodontal
disease.

Blood: Healthy
gums don't bleed and blood on the floss can indicates a
lack of epithelial integrity. If chronic PLAQUE
accumulation is the primary causative factor then all
bleeding will stop, with proper flossing, between the 6th
and the 7th day.

Fraying:
Floss frays for 4 reasons:

Caries at or
near the contact point.

Caries at the
edge of a restoration.

Fractured
marginal ridge or overhanging restorations.

Calculus
deposits.

Pain: Proper
flossing is a painless procedure, however, in mouths
that have never been flossed, the interproximal
tissue is often tender. Gentle-ness must be
emphasized. (Most pain reported is the result of
salts on un-washed hands that are transferred to the
floss and into areas that lack gingival integrity.)Squeaking: A sign of a
clean polished surface and one of the rewards of
regular flossing.

STEP 3: Gum
Massage & General Cleaning
A 3 or 4 row soft brush held in a palm grip, is used with
a recommended toothpaste. The gingiva is gently but
vigorously massaged by rolling the brush from the border
of the unattached mucosa to the occlusal surface. This
promotes inter-proximal circulation, stimulates blood
flow to supporting structures, and increases gingival
tone. It exerts a gentle "milking" action on
the sulcus and cleans from the level of the gum up. (The
occlusal surfaces and the tongue are also carefully
brushed.)

STEP 4: Disclosing
Dental Plaque
0.75% Sodium Fluorescein is the disclosing agent of
choice1. It is highly visible under dichroic filtered
light, and highlights PLAQUE with a brilliant
yellow-green. (Not only is erythrosine dye messy and
unsightly, but it is impossible to clearly demonstrate
the relationship between sulcular PLAQUE and gingival
irritation/red-ness with a red dye.)

This is by far one of the
most effective non-verbal teaching aids for preventive
dentistry. Once patients can easily see the extent of
their PLAQUE formation and its effect on oral hard and
soft tissues, the mere suggestion that it is "alive
and kicking" has them thinking that its their idea
that they should take better care of their teeth.
Accurate disclosing is the cornerstone of any effective
oral health evaluation program.

1 ORAL HEALTH, April 1985
/ Vol.75 / No.4

STEP 5: Take your
clean teeth to a dental office regularly to show them
off.
I never cease to be amazed at the tissue response to the
Y.T.F.L. program in some mouths. Patients referred with
little hope, expecting extractions and full dentures,
have happily ended up with partials or fixed bridgework.
Many perio patients have dramatically reduced their need
for surgical procedures. In my opinion, all patients
should be given equal opportunity to stabilize their oral
health before extensive repair begins. This not only
provides a sound foundation for restorative dentistry,
but it also generates a great deal of patient respect and
confidence, the building blocks of a successful practice.

Don't Rush
Your Brush:
The average person spends only about 35 seconds
brushing their teeth... Slow down...relax...
enjoy... And be gentle... It takes about 2 1/2 to
3 minutes to do it properly. Remember its the
spots you miss day after day where the problems
start.

Clean
Between:
The tooth brush cleans only about 65% so flossing
is necessary to clean the 35% in between the
teeth where the toothbrush can't reach. Check it
out... do the floss test...put it between your
back teeth, and wipe both sides an see what comes
out... Now where do you think your bad breath
comes from? You may think flossing is a hassle,
but its no where near the hassles that gum
surgery or dentures can be.

Eat,
Drink, but be wary:
Eat a well-balanced diet. Avoid the high sugar
foods especially between meals. If you chew gum,
make it sugarless, and remember if your diet is
damaging your teeth its affecting the rest of
your health in a negative way too!

Check your
gums:
Gum disease is painless in the early stages and
the leading cause of tooth loss in adults. If
your gums are red or puffy and bleed when you
brush, even a little, or if you have bad breath,
get it checked out the next time you're at the
dentist's. If you catch it early its easy to
prevent gum disease.

Don't wait
until it hurts:
It can be painful and expensive. Preventive
checkups and cleanings are the way to go. Ask
questions about where your're missing and how to
improve your brushing and flossing. Learn how to
keep your teeth healthy for a lifetime.

A dietary record can be
helpful in learning about individual diet patterns and
their effects on the oral environment. An understanding
of the basic requirements for generating dental health
can also provide valuable insights into the potential of
preventive dentistry to affect total health.

The following information
is not only intended to provide help with the diagnosis
of dental health problems, but it is also designed to
provide an overview of nutrition and encourage interest
in understanding the basic nutritional requirements for
long term health. There are no commandments telling you
what to eat or not to eat. Only suggestions for
improvements that you must test for yourself. Every
person is an individual, and different lifestyles have
different nutritional requirements. If you wish to
increase your health as you get older, then you must
learn how to better satisfy your body's needs.

BALANCED VERSUS
UNBALANCED FOODS

Foods that have everything
necessary to support life are considered balanced. Foods
that have too much or too little of something to support
life are considered unbalanced. From a scientific point
of view, all foods are made up of different parts or
components.

The concentrations of
these components are limited in living things. For
example, the highest concentration of sugar found
naturally is about 80% (in honey). The concentration of
sugar in the sugar bowl is 100%, or 20% more refined than
the highest concentration found or supported in any
living system. You are what you eat, and if you
constantly eat concentrations that exceed the limits
found or tolerated in living things, imbalance tends to
result, and you may end up with chronic health problems.

Remember, there are more
than 50 essential nutrients, and it is not just the
concentration of any one nutrient, but rather the
relationship of all of the nutrients that are necessary
for continued health. For example, it is not the sugar
itself that is harmful, but what is missing. The sugar in
the sugar cane is the same sugar that is found in the
sugar bowl. The only difference is in the concentration.
The sugar in the cane is only 26%. We say that it is
balanced (organically proportioned), because it is
surrounded by the proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals,
trace elements, and water, of the living sugar cane
plant.

White sugar (sucrose), is
considered unbalanced because it is refined beyond living
limits. All of the "impurities" (minerals,
vitamins and trace elements) have been removed. It is a
refined food source for bacterial PLAQUE which is the
cause of most dental disease. Damage to the teeth and
gums is often a sign that sugar levels in the diet are
high and plaque removal techniques are poor.

It is not as difficult as
it may seem. You don't have to be a scientist to figure
out whether your diet is balanced or not. If you want to
be healthy, eat healthy food. Remember, foods that are
alive, or very close to their living state, must have all
of the nutrients necessary to support life in them, or
they wouldn't be able to grow in the first place. An
apple is an example of a food that is actually alive when
you eat it. If you put it on the ground, it will drop a
root, and a tree will come. You can easily prove that it
is life generative. Foods that are highly processed and
contain a large number of chemical preservatives to
inhibit the growth opf bacteria are far less likely to
support your health, than foods that are fresh and
healthy (& not over-cooked) when you eat them.

DIET ANALYSIS:

General
Comments: Diet on the whole appears to be
adequate. (The average North American Diet tends to have
more than an adequate amount of Macro nutrients, and a
less than adequate amount of Micronutrients.

Weak Points: Coffee
and tea + 1 to 2 teaspoons sugar can promote the rapid
growth of PLAQUE, and sticky refined starches can
contribute to the formation of hard deposits on the
teeth. A very low yellow, green or dark green leafy
vegetable intake can lead to a borderline Vitamin A
(Beta-Carotene) deficiency which can lower resistance to
gum disease. Low citrus fruit intake (Vitamin C)
deficiency can contribute to delayed healing of gum
tissues.

NOTE:
Vitamin A: (Fat Soluble) the yellow-orange
pigment in fruits and vegetables is carotene or
provitamin A. It is converted in the body to
physiologically-active Vitamin A. In dark green
vegetables the yellow-orange pigment is masked by the
green chlorophyll. Because vegetables, particularly
the leafy green and yellow have more Vitamin A,
folacin and iron than fruits, two or more vegetables
are recommended daily by the Canada Food Guide.
Vitamin B-Complex: (Water Soluble) The B
Vitamins are necessary for healthy skin, hair, eyes,
mouth and tongue. It is best to consume foods that
have all of these vitamins together rather than
taking a single B vitamin isolated from the rest.
They are naturally found in whole-grain cereals,
green vegetables and some yeasts.
Vitamin C: (Water Soluble) This vitamin is
used as a catalyst in the healing process. Since the
body stores very little of this vitamin, foods that
provide it are needed regularly. Fresh citrus fruit
and their juices are an excellent source of this
vitamin. (Although many fruit drinks have this
vitamin added, they are mostly water, sugar, and
flavouring.)
Vitamin D: (Fat Soluble) This is known as
the sunshine vitamin because it can be acquired both
through eating and through exposure to sunlight. It
aids in the adsorption of calcium which is a
requirement for strong teeth and bones. (Milk is
commonly fortified with this vitamin).

The following suggestions
increase balance and the nutritious value of the foods
eaten:

Between meals eat
only suitable snacks (with no added sugar). Not
suitable snacks should be eaten with a meal if at
all. (If you insist on eating sweets, please eat
them with a meal as dessert, and not all by
themselves. One night a week should be dessert
night, the rest of the week, fruit is the best
dessert.

Coffee or Tea + 2%
milk and NO SUGAR (or sweetener), (Double the
milk for the first few weeks to buffer the
bitterness.) (Only caffeinless beverages should
be consumed after 6:00 pm.)

NOTE:
Eating a salad first before a meal tends to promote
weight loss because it provides low calorie bulk to
fill you up so there is less room for high calorie
foods, second helpings, and dessert.

Eat as many
different colours of food as possible each day.
Colour can be an indicator of mineral content and
freshness. A broad cross-section of different
colours ensures a broad mineral and vitamin base
to the balanced diet.

The goal of these
suggestions is not blind belief. Hopefully they will
stimulate your interest in reading labels and being more
concerned with developing a diet pattern that suits your
particular needs. The object is to experiment with a
healthy diet. If you keep your mouth healthy and clean by
brushing and flossing every day... you'll be able to
taste the truth in good nutrition.
Keep Smiling!

The mouth is a
"Gateway to Health" and can be used as an
excellent barometer' of nutritional status. A simple diet
questionnaire and nutrition survey included with the
patient history can provide an excellent opportunity to
target specific patients for more comprehensive study.
Not only does this alert patients of the need to examine
the relationship between their diet pattern and their
oral health, but also it broadens the dental
practitioner's diagnostic skills in recognizing disease
patterns in which dietary habits are a major contributing
factor. Recurrent dental caries (tooth decay) and chronic
periodontal problems can prove extremely resistant to
treatment if the symptoms are the result of underlying
systemic factors related to poor nutrition.

The effects of diet on
oral health are two fold. One is local and the other
systemic. The local effects are based on the physical
properties of the food (texture, stickiness, clearance
rate, etc.), and the systemic effects are based on the
micronutrient requirements of the oral tissues and
supporting immune system.

It seems that in
approximately 70% to 80% of dental health problems, there
is a direct relationship between oral hygiene, local
nutritional effects, and oral health. When oral hygiene
is the major factor, if plaque is controlled, so is
dental disease.

In 20% to 30% of cases,
oral hygiene does not appear to be the major factor. Even
exceptional oral hygiene is often unable to control the
oral disease process because systemic resistance is
impaired due to an immune deficiency problem.(ie.
Avitaminosis, Type II Diabetes, Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome etc.)

In approximately 2% or
less of cases, a lack of proper oral hygiene does not
adversely affect oral health. Diet and lifestyle are such
that systemic immunity to disease is adequate to prevent
oral health problems in spite of poor oral hygiene.

It is possible to make up
for high concentrations of refined carbohydrate in the
"modern civilized diet" with a refined or
civilized oral hygiene program (ie. tooth brushing and
flossing). Fluoride supplementation can also be used to
make the teeth resistant to a poor diet and dental decay.
However, when it comes to optimal overall health, there
is no substitute for balanced meals and proper nutrition.

Preventodontics/
n. the art and science of preventive/preventative
dentistry practiced with the goal of preventing tooth
damage or loss by helping patients to keep their natural
dentition healthy for a lifetime. [<Gk (odous odont-,
tooth)]

Dentistry was the first of
the traditional health professions to make prevention its
hallmark Clinical research into the etiology (causes) of
dental disease and its prevention have led to a much
greater appreciation of both the multi-factorial nature
of the human immune response to the disease process, and
of the biological harmony or balance we call good health.

INTERCEPTIVE
DIAGNOSTICS

Don't be surprised, if in
the future patients end up visiting the dentist to find
out how well they are aging by their teeth. They may even
end up learning about how well their diet pattern and
lifestyle is supporting their resistance to disease.

The mouth an the ideal
diagnostic window on health because it is the gateway to
the human body. Everything you eat passes through it, and
if your diet is damaging your teeth and gums, its bound
to negatively affect the health of the rest of your body
too. Because the mouth is so accessible, it can be easily
used to demonstrate the effects of oral hygiene (ie.
brushing & flossing) and various diet patterns on
oral hard and soft tissue relationships.

PREVENTODONTICS
RESEARCH

Current research in
Preventodontics, carried out by the Y T F L Foundation,
is focused on monitoring periodontal tissue response to
the chronic irritation caused by common dental PLAQUE
accumulations. When a special PLAK-LITE System is used,
it causes the almost invisible dental plaque to appear a
brilliant yellow-green. This makes it possible to very
accurately evaluate the effectiveness of each patient's
oral hygiene. By using a computer assisted Y T F L Oral
Health Evaluation System.(O.H.E.S.), we are then able to
cross-index the relationship between oral hygiene and
gingival health.

This makes it possible to
monitor the degree of a patient's tissue immunity
response to chronic irritation or infection over time.
Patients with high and low susceptibility to periodontal
disease can then be targeted for special diet pattern
analysis.

By comparing and
contrasting and the diet patterns of patients of both
strong and impaired resistance to periodontal disease, it
becomes possible to highlight those nutritional factors
that support both immunity to dental disease and
excellent systemic health.

This new interceptice
diagnostic approach focuses on the symptomology of both
health and disease in a comparative way. We have already
begun the development of a new Y.T.F.L. Dental/Medical
Health Evaluation System that we hope to have tested by
an interdisciplinary research team of dentists,
hygienists, physicians, nurses and nutritionists. This
prevention based approach to health evaluation has very
positive implications in both dentistry and medicine. It
may also help to shift the focus of our health care
system to one in which interceptive diagnostics and
prevention of disease receive more attention than the
treatment of its effects. I will do my best to keep you
posted on our progress. Keep Smiling!

1. In 1987 the Canadian Dental Association Board of
Governors approved the "5 Point Prevention
Plan" as the cornerstone of their National Dental
Awareness Program.2. Y.T.F.L. stands for Your Teeth For a Lifetime'
Foundation.3. 0.75% sodium fluorescein (yellow) plaque
disclosing agent highlighted by dichroic (blue) filtered
light.4. The YTFL Table Clinic presented at the 125th
Annual Ontario Dental Association 1992 Convention in
Toronto received the 3rd place award out of 31 entries.

When you have orthodontic
appliances, you must be sure to brush your teeth and gums
better than ever before. Special attention must be paid
to the area between the gums and the appliances. We call
this the "Danger Zone". Bacteria can breed in
the food that collects around your bands and wires
causing stains, cavities, unpleasant odours, and gum
infections. This is why it is so important to keep your
teeth spotlessly clean. Take your time and do it right. A
"Water Pik" irrigator can be helpful, if used
carefully, but it is not a substitute for careful
brushing and other cleaning methods.

Your diet is very
important because appliances make your mouth more
difficult to clean. Remember that sugar is a highly
refined carbohydrate and provides a simple high energy
food source for breeding bacterial PLAQUE. White flour
products and pre-sweetened cereals can also be very
sticky when eaten by themselves. However, it is not just
the amount of sugar, or the stickiness of the flour, it
is the length of time it remains in the mouth, and the
number of times it is eaten during the day.

It is also very important
to avoid foods that are hard and brittle, as well as
foods that are soft and sticky, because they tend to bend
wires, loosen cement under bands and brackets, and break
the tubes which are attached.

Certain foods can be eaten
if they are served in a special way. Whole fruits and
vegetables, such as apples and carrots, should be sliced
and eaten carefully. Hard, crusty breads should be broken
and eaten in small pieces. Fresh corn may be eaten if
sliced off the cob. Do not suck on lemons or limes and
avoid carbonated beverages. Please exercise caution in
your selection of food and help us achieve the best
results possible.

Treat your appliances as
expensive, fine pieces of jewelry; in a real sense, this
is what they are. The extra cleaning and dietary
restrictions may seem to be a hassle, but they are the
secret to preventing problems and building a healthy
attractive smile. "Take care and be care-less!"

While it has been recognized that nutrition has
a prime role to play in dental caries, the role of
nutrition in periodontal disease is considerably less
obvious. Complicating factors include a complex aetiology
and the difficulty in assessing the severity and progress
of the disease. The multi-factorial nature of periodontal
disease creates problems when studies are designed to
analyze single variables. The effects of nutritional
status on periodontal health involve more than 50
nutrients and their interaction both locally and
systemically. The criteria of tooth mobility and pocket
depth add to the difficulty in that they tend to be
somewhat subjective for precise measurement.

It has been reasoned that some positive
benefits may be seen through the local effects of food.
For example, firm fibrous foods provide additional
chewing which tends to increase salivary flow, strengthen
periodontal ligaments, and increase alveolar bone density
through increased physiologic function. Also, these foods
do not promote PLAQUE formation because they are
non-retentive.

In addition to the local effects, it is
felt by many researchers that poor nutrition may decrease
host resistance to the disease process or modify the
progress of existing lesions. This is certainly true for
gross deficiencies of a specific micro-nutrient. For
example, the lack of vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid) in scurvy,
the lack of vitamin B1 (thiamine) in beri-beri, and the
lack of vitamin B3 (niacin) in pellagra et cetera.
However, when it comes to the effects of more subtle or
borderline deficiencies, analysis becomes more difficult.
Such deficiencies may not produce consistent or easily
identifiable "deficiency disease" symptoms and
therefore, their relationship to possible weakness on a
cellular level (that could affect host resistance to
periodontal problems), is extremely difficult to define.
When faced with this difficulty, good nutritional advice
stresses fresh foods and variety in the diet pattern.
This would provide maximum access to the more than 50
nutrients that are considered essential for proper
nutrition, the maintenance of oral tissues, and increased
resistance to infection.

Times are changing. Clinical research
in primary prevention and nutrition have led to a
comprehensive understanding of the etiology (underlying
causes) of dental pathology. Effective Community Dental
Health Awareness Programs can cause a dramatic decrease
in the incidence of dental disease, and new restorative
methods and materials have made even a heavily damaged
dentition (teeth & gums) reparable. Because these
changes have occurred slowly and relatively recently,
there are still people who are unaware of the benefits of
regular preventive dental care. A large percentage of our
senior citizens fall into this category. The vast
majority of them grew up in an era when dentistry most
often meant the painful loss of teeth and the fitting of
dentures. When dental disease is considered inevitable,
care and repair is often neglected, and a "wait
until it hurts" attitude results. Not only is this
painful and expensive, but it ignores the potential of
regular preventive care and prosthetic rehabilitation.

The mouth is the gateway to the body,
and a little care and awareness can have a dramatic
effect on the incidence of both the acute and chronic
problems associated with poor dental health. Since 1989,
Y T F L has continued to work with the Thunder Bay Dental
Association and Hygiene Society to develop a special
"Healthy Smiles for Seniors" program to service
the needs of the older adults in our community. We have
given both the staffs and residents of three local senior
citizens' homes a Y.T.F.L. dental health orientation
program entitled, "What a Difference a Little Care
Makes". We also have provided a free screening
sessions for residents along with a general needs
assessment report.

The seniors in our community have made
an invaluable contribution to the quality of life that we
often take for granted. By helping them to enjoy the
benefits of a healthy smile we are repaying an old debt
and showing them our gratitude. It is our hope that this
effort will form the basis for an ongoing program to help
assess and meet the needs of our senior citizens.

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